Man and the Machines

* Book: Man and the Machines. Romano Guardini. CSDL, 1959.

Discussion

Mark Stahlman:

"One of the more important “modern” commentors on all this (i.e. 'humanity dealing with the effects of its own inventions') was Romano Guardini (1885-1968).

Guardini, a German Catholic theologian and pastoralist, wrote extensively on these topics. His post-WW II lectures, published as The End of the Modern World and Power and Responsibility, are essential for understanding the impact of A.I. on individuals and society. His final word, the 1959 lecture Man and the Machines, has been translated into multiple languages for publication by CSDL, the parent organization to this Substack.

He concludes that essay (addressed to what must have been one of the earliest “Computer Science” audiences at a Munich technical school) by saying --

- “We might like to fantasize a little—after all, utopias have so often become real that dreaming would be legitimate. We could imagine a spiritual council of nations, in which the best from all political areas would consider these questions together. Human existence is so far advanced, the Human has taken himself so much into his own hands, the possibilities of both achievement and destruction have become so unforeseeable, that it is time for a new virtue: a spiritual statecraft, in which the Human, having become serious through so much experience, would step out from his bashfulness into the distinctive areas of thinking and living. That would be the best case. A living human consciousness would enable us to look out over the whole of our existence and, having reached a real, sovereign objectivity, consider the res hominis.”

Such a “spiritual council of nations” has not yet been formed. Instead, many organizations have spent their time pondering, debating, and releasing statements about “A.I. Ethics” – presumably out of concerns that the “robots” aren’t “aligned” with human goals. Terminator style. Autonomous weapons style. Modern “secular” society style. Issac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics” style. But despite all the effort expended, one suspects this is nonetheless a futile PR waste of time. Since the robots have no understanding of “purpose” or “meaning,” how are we to expect them to follow a declaration of “ethics”?

One potential for some clarity and even positive action could be the just elected Catholic Pope, Leo XIV. Rather than attempting to tell the robots what to-do/not-do – noting that Asimov’s Laws were intended to sell pulp magazines, not inform robot designers – it seems far more productive to focus on the society-to-come, all occurring under Digital conditions. Leo XIV explicitly picked that name to indicate that he wants to continue the work of the 19th century Leo XIII (1810-1903). Leo XIII launched what is known as “Catholic Social Teaching” (CST) with his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. Noted by Leo XIV, and then the current Leo mentioned A.I. – pointing to the need for CST to be upgraded to Digital Catholic Social Teaching (DCST, about which CSDL offered an 8-lecture series in 2022).

Digital Catholic Social Teaching uses the same three pillars as CST: Human Dignity, Subsidiarity, and Solidarity. But it recognizes that the effects of the new technology are different from those propelled by the earlier Electric Paradigm (c. 1850-2000, in the West). Instead of herding us into “mass audiences,” DCST fragments the world, as shown by the collapse of Globalism and the massive expansion of information sources. Instead of fragmenting the human personality, DCST reintegrates our Body and Soul – reversing the previous split, dating back to Descartes & al. Instead of promoting isolated (negative) “freedom,” DCST promotes a positive view of freedom, again orienting humans towards the Good.

Like all environmental technologies, A.I. changes us. We are already different from who we were before ChatGPT was released. Not just in the instrumental fashion of our use of the technology, we have changed at a more fundamental level. Indeed, a spiritual level. Serious attention to spirituality is clearly increasing worldwide. We believe that Digital has caused this shift. The new Paradigm is Christian, Daoist, Hindu and more – already. All together. Digital technology seeks to build “Artificial Humans.” That can only stimulate the actual humans to ask, “What Does It Mean to Be Human?” – a refrain that echoes around the world. We are now “retrieving” what was once lost. Humans are becoming “integrated” body-and-soul once again. What Max Weber bemoaned as the “dis-enchantment of the world” in his 1918 lecture, “Science as a Vocation,” is now undergoing a “re-enchantment.” Without the benefits provided by DCST, and its global counterparts, God help us . . . !!"

(https://exogenous.substack.com/p/of-two-minds-the-problem-with-ai)